Did you apply to that Next Generation Service Corps program? Any word on that?
Did you retake the ACT on April 9? If not, are you planning to take the test in June (registration deadline is May 6)?
Did you ever sit down with your parents and get a firm number about what they could pay out of income and savings? Many of your posts are along the line of “I can’t ask them to pay for tuition, I feel badly,” not, “they have told me that they can pay X number of dollars per year.” But, then where does “we’ll manage somehow” come from? Did they TELL you they couldn’t afford ASU or are you assuming that it would be too much?
Color me confused, but I still have no idea what your family is able/willing to pay. The only information I have been able to piece together is that they make more than the Pell eligibility threshold and that your mother is/was still paying back her own student loans. Is this correct?
If they truly can contribute nothing towards your college education through earnings (and would have to take out loans), then I agree with everybody else, ASU Barrett is not affordable and you need to look at other options.
Your situation hasn’t changed since your other threads, so it’s unrealistic to expect the advice to be different. Time is short, so I’m going to be direct. I hope you listen.
I came from a poor family, so I understand your struggles. My parents couldn’t afford to send me away to college, but they could afford to help me through community college. I was able to earn enough with the degree I got there to pay my way through a 4-year school. Your ability to find a job will likely increase with an associate’s degree. I don’t think it’s appropriate to have an affordable path in front of you that will better your situation and not materially harm your family and figuratively stamp your foot and say you’re too good to take it. I understand you worked hard in school. Most of us work hard. It entitles us to nothing.
My son was accepted into a program with guaranteed transfer to Columbia as long as he maintained his GPA. It was a great program. He worked hard to qualify and he deserved it, but it was unaffordable so he didn’t take it. He’s commuting to a local college and won’t graduate with unmanageable debt. That is a gift to him and to us.
You need to make a mature decision. Your family can’t afford this college. Let it go. Quit crying to your parents because all that serves is to guilt them into trying to come up with money they don’t have. Get an application in to PIMA. Contact their financial aid office and figure out the costs. Excel there and use that degree to get you to your next step. It may not be the most direct way to what you want, but it’s the affordable way and the one that has the best chance of working.
@austinmshauri Easy there. I do not “cry” to my parents to make them guilty to help me afford college. Last night, my mom said she said she will and is figuring out a plan. I find it rude that you would say Im trying to guilt my parents into helping me, which is beyond false. At first, yeah, thought I could handle college costs on my own because I didn’t want to be a burden. Please do not make assumptions about or my family and the college plan.
@mamaedefamilia Hello, well I did a phone interview for the Next Generation Service Corps, but I’m waiting to hear back.
I will have to take the ACT at ASU specifically, for what is called Residual Testing. It would only be used at ASU though, that’s the catch. I will be in PR on the next ACT date, so unless I could test there, that would be an option.
@itsgettingreal I never said I was “smart”, I say I believe I work hard. I guess this is confusing for a lot of people, so my Mom and Dad have never flat out told me that they can’t afford ASU or that they think I should look into something else. If they had told me that, then yes, I would completely understand what all of you are saying and would agree about Pima, other schools and CCs, etc. It’s 6 A.M right now so while I don’t have the specifics about every dime I plan on spending, I will do this. Today I will ask my dad about what he thinks about Pima.
I didn’t say you were doing it intentionally. However, this isn’t the first post where you’ve said you went to your mom literally in tears because you’re afraid they can’t pay for the school you want and your mom’s response each time is that they’ll figure something out. Stop doing that.
If the 4-year college is affordable, why all the angst about trying to meet your EFC? If the cost of a ~$4k/year community college is possibly out of reach, how is paying for dorming at a 4-year college not out of reach?
Asking your dad what he thinks about the local cc is not the same as asking directly, “how much can you pay without taking out a parent loan?” That’s the question you need answered.
“my Mom and Dad have never flat out told me that they can’t afford ASU or that they think I should look into something else.”
So my earlier question still pertains - have you ASKED them what they can afford out of earnings and savings? Without this information, people on this forum will have to speculate. With more concrete information, you will get more relevant advice.
“I will be in PR on the next ACT date …”
As you are only contemplating ASU at present, their internal ACT test is probably fine.
Assuming PR is Puerto Rico, if your family can afford to travel there, perhaps some careful family budgeting might get you closer to the result that you want.
My understanding from your previous posts is this (please correct me if it’s incorrect):
Your parents earn over $100k/year.
Their expected contribution is $20k/year.
They can't help pay much (if anything) for college because of their own debt.
Your test scores are too low for substantial merit aid and your financial aid package is only a couple small grants and the student loan.
You have sibling(s) whose education your parents need to plan for.
You've been saying for over a month that you were going to ask your parents how much they could afford to pay but with a deadline 2 weeks away you still don't have a clear answer.
You believe you worked hard and "deserve" to attend a 4-year college instead of a community college.
Your plan, after attending a college that will cost your parents $80k out-of-pocket (and $27k loans for you?) is to go on to med school.
You need a plan for paying for all 4 years that doesn’t include $80k of loans for your parents. It’s not fair to them, and it’s not fair to your sibling(s).
This is why I have always been so against Parent Plus loans…it becomes so tempting for students to have their parents bare the blunt of the burden with debt with “promises” of paying it themselves. I have known all sorts of student peers who were able to convince their parents they will pay all the loans eventually in order to chase prestige or a certain school. In this country we have a culture where we never say never. It makes us great because we persevere for our dreams but it can be a curse when those dreams involve crippling debt. As I have said before: “nothing is more dangerous than an 18 year old with stars in their eyes with uncle sam’s credit card.”
I guess the main reason I have been chiming in is because I really don’t want another person to make an awful choice to borrow $100,000+ for a school they can’t afford and then they become another rallying call for a bailout/“free college” for students.
Let us know @Lovenetc what your parents are actually willing to pay. If worse case scenario they find they can’t pay a dime, you can always borrow a small stafford loan and/or work 20 hours a week for your tuition at Pima, assuming you go into full blown job searching mode. You may not like the paths you have now but it’s better than the destruction of your life and family’s life with student loans.
“Making a plan” is mom speak for “I really can’t do this but I’m praying to have an unexpected windfall to make me not have to say no to you.”
I made a plan for one of my kids in such a situation, and the tax consequences were nightmarish and ongoing. If you don’t have a solid plan in place by April 12, the honest truth is that you just can’t do it. I’m sorry. You seem wonderful and I know I speak for many of the parents here in saying that we wish we could fix it for you, but that’s not possible. If your mom can “make a plan” it will probably have very serious consequences for her. You don’t want that because at some point you will understand and regret it. Regret is an ugly thing. Come up with a plan B you can be proud of and comfortable with for the rest of your life. Good luck! I’ve been watching your threads and I’m rooting for you!
As other has said, you need a FOUR year plan on how to pay. You need to discuss with your parents what the plan is. Why? Because you are on the hook for your loans if their plan fails. If after year 1, the money runs out, you will need to start repaying your loans. Can you? While 5.5K is a low amount, it is a killer without a job. After year 2 you are up to 12K. So find out if your parent are realistic. Consider that eve with their high income that they are having trouble.
@CTTC oh boy I didn’t notice the sibling part…that’s a HUGE red flag in family college planning. When it came to my circumstance, it took me till the end to realize that any of my original college choices would put so much debt burdens on myself and my parents that it effectively closes many doors for my brother who is 4 years away from college…
if you got a sibling (which you do) you have to be the responsible older sibling and not suck up so much of your parent’s contribution in order to give a chance for your sibling. My gf got wiped out from most college choices because her sister decided to go to the expensive state school that cost $100,000+ that ultimately led to a job that pays less than I make at fast food. Irony is a b****. Unfortunately for my girlfriend her sister’s self-fishness and lack of planning only gave my girlfriend the option to commute to a local college. My girlfriend is happy with her choice but she still has to work to afford it while her sister had the time of her life in college while not working. Don’t be that sister that screws over your own sibling in order to achieve your dreams. Be humble in having them in your thoughts and picking the right affordable choice.
I also have the anecdote where one of my best friends went into a state university when he really was not academically prepared and would have done better going into a community college first. Mind you he had a 29 on his ACT so he is bright but he is probably the most apathetic human being you will ever meet. Graduated with a 1.9 GPA and still decided to go to a state university. Not only did he drop out of that college his first year but he came to me in November that he DID NOT HAVE ALL THE MONEY FOR THE FIRST SEMESTER. The school came after him after they realized he was enrolling when he didn’t even sign up for loan papers! Now after all the stuff settled he had his father with 4 babies to feed taking an emergency Parent Plus loan to cover the difference. All of this for really really bad planning. He essentially wasted a pell grant and stafford loan all to drop out of college by his first semester all while failing all his courses. My tax dollars hard at work…
One thing to remember about community college - once you transfer to a 4 year school, that’s where your degree is from. You take your lower level courses for a much lower price, but have the benefit of the upper level courses and degree from the 4 year university. When you’re applying for jobs or doing a resume, it will be as a graduate of, and with a degree from, the 4 year university. Few will know or remember that you started at community college.
Going to community college first was a fantastic option for our D1. She made the most of it while she was there. She worked and paid for most of it herself. She transferred to our state flagship as an entering junior and is loving it.
We (parents plus student) have saved a pile of money by her going the community college route. She is a good student, but no academic super star. She benefitted from the extra tutoring help at her community college and the ability to “back-up” and take some lower level (no college credit) math courses first. She hates math.
Her hard work was noticed by adult mentors. She got a lot of support. She joined the Student Government Association, then ran for class president and won! She traveled to several cities across the country for SGA conferences. She graduated from community college with honors, full of confidence, and DEBT FREE. I don’t think she would’ve had those opportunities if she had gone straight to a four year.
We are full pay at our state flagship. There is no way we could afford it for four years! Two years? Okay, we can do that.
Chiming in with others, some people simply don’t understand the ramifications of debt. Your parents probably want to give you what you want and what you feel you deserve. But if you all make an emotional decision for this unaffordable school, there is a real danger of the rug being pulled out from under you. Unable to pay for sophomore year. You have to leave ASU, with debt, and no degree. It happens to people for all kinds of reasons. There has to be a solid FOUR year plan.
I posted before that our D2 was accepted to her dream school. Although the first year looked doable, the last three years were not remotely affordable, according the school’s calculator. We pulled it off the table. You have to be smart about big decisions like this. It’s a LOT of money.
If you are balking about the price of community college, why are you not seeing how much MORE expensive ASU will be for you?